To Build or to Buy: The Tale of the Library à la Carte™ Project
Margaret Mellinger, Jane Nichols & Kim Griggs, Oregon State University Libraries
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Open Source Software Benefits
Customization,
flexibility and
freedom
No vendor
lock-in
Participation in
development
Open Source Software Costs
Added training,
Low start-up
No yearly
support,
implementation
subscription or
maintenance
and upgrade
licensing fee
costs
costs
“. . . kudos! on
developing an
excellent, opensource tool for the
library community.”
—librarian
“It was very nice to
have one source
that I could begin
with to find the information I needed
to complete my
assignment.”
—student
5
4.5
4.5
4.3
4.4
4.2
4
Have access to code
Be restricted in your
access to code
1
Rate the Library Guides on the following...
Design
Organization
Avoid yearly
subscription fees
Have a predictable
cost model
Contribute to and
influence future
development
Depend on vendor’s
upgrade schedule
Rely on communitydriven support and
training
Expect that support is
covered in fee
structure
Overall
Library a la Carte Course Guides Use Statistics
08/09 Total Sessions: 29,486
Daily Average: 109.15
08/09 Total Sessions: 39,227
Daily Average: 149.15
07/08 Total Sessions: 26,424
Daily Average: 100.03
07/08 Total Sessions: 22,807
Daily Average: 86.39
400
900
350
800
700
User Sessions
300
User Sessions
Have limited access to
data and reuse options
2.5
1.5
“Library à la Carte is very
extensible, and integrating
your own theme is very
easy.”
—library web developer
Have total control of
your own data
3
2
Open Source Software Challenges
Hosting and
technical
knowledge
Reduce dependence on
vendors
Usually have a more
stable and mature
software
3.5
Subject Guides Use Statisics
Building
community,
governance
Need little technical
infrastructure and/or
technical skills
Student Satisfaction Ratings
Library a la Carte IRB Usability Study 1/09
Ease of Use
Level of
support and
responsibility
Require server access
and technical
knowledge
Rely on vendor’s
Be able to customize
feature development
and extend the software schedule
Ave rage Sa tisfaction Sc ore
1 -Ve ry Unsatisfied to 5 -Very Sa tisfied
Collaborate and share guides
“Her website has
saved me countless precious
hours of research
due to the
organizational
effectiveness of
the website.”
— student
If you build / adopt Open If you buy or subscribe
Source Software (OSS),
to vendor software,
you will:
you will:
250
200
150
100
600
500
400
300
200
50
100
0
0
9/1
10/1
11/1
12/1
1/1
2/1
3/1
4/1
5/1
Date Range
2007-2008 HTML Templates
2008-2009 Library a la Carte
6/1
9/1
10/1
11/1
12/1
1/1
2/1
3/1
Date Range
09/2007 - 06/2008
09/2008 - 06/2009
4/1
5/1
6/1